Chinese graves at Melbourne General Cemetery
Discover their Chinese names and places of origin
An explanation of the metadata fields
Learn how the details of each field was determined and interpreted.
| Field | Transcription method |
|---|---|
| Deceased | Derived from the Family Name and Given Names fields. Some may be modified to reflect logical reading. |
| TRANSCRIPTION | |
| Family Name (English) | Transcribed directly from headstone text. If there is no written English, the Family Name is determined from commonly accepted translation of the Chinese name or derived from Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (SMCT) records. |
| Maiden Name | If the first character (family name) is followed by 門 this denotes the person has married into this family. |
| Given Name (English) | Transcribed directly from headstone text. If there is no written English, the Given Name is determined from commonly accepted translation of the Chinese name or derived from SMCT records. |
| Family Name (Traditional Chinese) | Transcribed directly from headstone text |
| Given Name (Traditional Chinese) | Transcribed directly from headstone text |
| Province 省 (Traditional Chinese) | Transcribed directly from headstone text |
| County 縣 (Traditional Chinese) | Transcribed directly from headstone text |
| Township 鄉 (Traditional Chinese) | Transcribed directly from headstone text |
| Village 村 (Traditional Chinese) | Transcribed directly from headstone text |
| INTERPRETATION | |
| Pronounced (Cantonese pronounciation) | The romanisation used here is based on a combination of Hong Kong Government Style Cantonese, and Yale romanisation, though without the tone marks or numbers. Where possible, we have tried spelling that are understandable or easily recognisable for the English speaker, such as “chan” as opposed to “tsan”, or “see” instead of “sze”. As most of the deceased would have had their own Cantonese dialect, that would also introduce a variable in the transcription as well as between the English provided on the headstones and the transcribed pronunciation, such as “sun” in Hong Kong Cantonese and “sin” in the Taishan dialect for example. Taishan being one of the counties of Guangdong province where many of the deceased came from. |
| Other names | Derived from additional headstone information or SMCT records. Chinese men often have a common name used by family, and a courtesy name on gaining maturity. They might also have a pen name or an alias, or a posthumous name given to them in honour. These additional names are denoted by a small character such as 字 or 號 on the headstones. |
| Ancestral origin (Mandarin Pinyin) | This location denotes the region where the ancestral village was situated. It could be a birthplace but it is not necessarily so. It indicates that the family ancestors originated from this region. Current map resources use Mandarin Pinyin as that is the dominent language of China, so Mandarin translation is used here for all main city or area names. Some names in Cantonese can be found here. Village names might have changed over time, or be altered or absorbed by neighbouring villages or towns, so in some cases current names could not be found or their locations verified. |
| Birth date | Birth date written in Chinese are transcribed as it is written. Some refer to Qing dynasty or Republican era years and have been translated to Gregorian years where possible. Republican era calculated from 1911. Guangxu (光緒) era from 1875. Pu Yi (宣統) era from 1908. Some of the older Chinese use the Lunar calendar, however, it is difficult to ascertain if the day and month details provided were in Lunar or Gregorian calendar. Numerals used also provide a clue as to the person who organised the headstone. Some use figures associated with merchants or financial trade. |
| Death date | Death date written in Chinese are transcribed as it is written. Some refer to Qing dynasty or Republican era years and have been translated to Gregorian years where possible. Republican era calculated from 1911. Guangxu (光緒) era from 1875. Pu Yi (宣統) era from 1908. Some of the older Chinese use the Lunar calendar, however, it is difficult to ascertain if the day and month details provided were in Lunar or Gregorian calendar. Numerals used also provide a clue as to the person who organised the headstone. Some use figures associated with merchants or financial trade. |
| Year of grave | Derived from the Death Date or SMCT records |
| Gender | If the name is followed by the character 公 this denotes a Male. If the first character (family name) is followed by 門 this denotes the person is a married woman. A Female is also denoted with titles such as 母 (mother), 婆婆 (older woman/grandmother/mother-in-law), 夫人(madam). |
| Interpretation Notes | Additional comments about the transcription and interpretation method and headstone text that should be noted. |
| OTHER | |
| Plot Location/Number | The location of the grave plot including Denomination, Compartment section and plot number. Details have been verified with SMCT. |
| Headstone photograph | A link to a high resolution version of the headstone image taken by CAFHOV. |
| Grave photograph | A link to a high resolution version of the grave image taken by CAFHOV. |
| Portrait or additional photographs | A link to a high resolution version of a portrait image or other images taken by CAFHOV. |